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Thursday, 8 November 2012

East Dunbartonshire and Glasgow Councils are trying to kill me!

A melodramatic title, maybe, but as someone who recently
decided to dust down my 30 year old bicycle and start to cycle to work, on most
mornings and evenings it really feels like this.

I cycle from Mosshead Road (opposite the Allander) to
Summerston – a round trip every day of around 8 miles. This trip has ensured I don’t add to the
global warming that is changing our weather; I don’t add to the wear and tear
of the road; I don’t add to the incredible traffic problem Bearsden has during
rush hour and I am feeling healthier – so, hopefully, reducing my use of our
NHS which is feeling the pressure of a Tory Westminster Government and the
dreadful health problems associated with Scotland.

All very positive and I would hope, all reasons East
Dunbartonshire and Glasgow tax payers should be very happy about.

Since taking up cycling to work, I have been shocked on a
number of issues. As I write this, I see
Bradley Wiggins and Shane Sutton, both cycling heroes of the Summer Olympics,
have been injured in accidents involving traffic. Nearly every day I have near
misses.

The first issue I have been shocked by is the attitude of
drivers to cyclists. Cyclists are, by
many people I have spoken to over the past few months, seen as an inconvenience
and more. Speaking to work colleagues
and friends, who rush to say their attitudes don’t of course include me, I have
heard the kind of vitriol poured on cyclists I have heard in my past poured on
“the other,” the scapegoat, in society.
I am originally from Northern Ireland and have seen the result of this
kind of thinking. I have made my home in
Scotland now for twenty years, but, and again this might seem melodramatic, but
some road users seem to think that cyclist road injuries or deaths are the
fault of the flesh and bone balanced on two thin wheels keeping them back from
arriving at their destination by at most, a couple of minutes. I am incredulous at the amount of drivers who
will take chances, at speed, to overtake me and have knocked a few windows of
cars stopped at traffic lights and asked drivers why they want to kill me.

Sorry doesn’t do it.
Where is the legal protection for cyclists from the “it’s only a
cyclist” attitude?

I feel this attitude to cyclists goes further than road
users. I have spoken to people who have
said that they can’t understand why cyclists “choose when to ride on the Milngavie
Cycle path.” They can’t understand why
we cyclists don’t stay safe on the orange asphalt. Well, drivers, let me tell you. I don’t call that strip a cycle path, I call
it a psycho-path. For some reason, the
attitude of the planners when creating this nod to cyclists was the same as
those drivers who see cyclists as a sub-species. The asphalt, first of all, has been laid down
with huge bumps between each “section.”
Second of all, it swerves OVER manholes with the associated cracks and
pits in the road around them, and the side of the road seems to be where all of
the recent digging by the council/ utilities companies took place, leaving HUGE
pits and holes. If I was to cycle into
these holes I would be over the handlebars of my road touring bike. The road between Canniesburn Toll and
Maryhill is even more of a death trap with holes and cracks and traffic that
seems to be racing each other between roundabouts and traffic jams.

To finish, I want to make a few pleas. Drivers, as a cyclist I want you to know two
things. One, I am not in competition
with you. You will win every time with
your ton and a half metal shell and 30mph plus speeds. And secondly, if you see me ahead and I am in
the middle of a traffic lane, there is a reason. I don’t want to fall down a hole. East Dunbartonshire and Glasgow Council, my
plea to you is to ask cyclists to help you with your road and cycle path
design. Both health and carbon emissions
are helped by those of us who brave the roads on our lightweight tubes on thin
tyres and sustainable muscle power. In
Germany, every new road is designed with cyclists in mind. Every new road has a cycle path that keeps
cyclists away from speeding hunks of metal.
If Glasgow and the surrounding areas are to become some sort of cycling
capital in 2014 with the Commonwealth Games bringing cycling talent from around
the world to our streets and new velodrome, then real changes must be made.